The ethernet Intel Corporation 82566MM Gigabit Network Connection nic just works with e1000
Make sure it's in your kernel,
if it's a module,

Code:

echo 'e1000' >> /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6 && update-modules

The Nvidia Quadro NVS 140M works with x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-100.14.09 with some help.
1a I had to add the kernel option irqpoll to get it to work.
1b. I had to add the kernel option "noapic" to make the mouse seem smoother.
Following Chapter 8 of "NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Graphics Driver README and Installation Guide", several kernel options were suggested. This is a table of tests and results:

I do see a nasty horizontal line about 4mm wide in the upper proton of the screen, with white edges and colored pixles between, for a short time, during boot.

The Nvidia Quadro NVS 140M works with x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-100.14.11 with less configuration. I don't add the kernel options, and the driver still works.

2. Framebuffer:
2.a. vesafb-ng in the kernel made it so that if I switch to a virtual terminal or logging out of kde, I get a blank screen with backlight. This is even without specifying vga= or video= kernel options.
2.b. vesafb in the kernel and specify vga=869 kernel option at boot, lead to similar expericne.
2.c. vesafb in the kernle and not specifying vga=869 kernel option at boot, allows me to use the nvidia driver, and swtich between terminals, and back. I can even log out and log back in to kde. I did add an option to /etc/modules.d/nvidia, but I'm not sure if I need it.

I guess you didn't set ALSA_CARDS in make.conf. There's no point to loading all those drivers, so I'd set that and rebuild. All that state save stuff is unecessary as well. Just edit /etc/conf.d/alsasound to handle that. I see that the volume is set to the max in alsamixer. If that's the case, the volume control won't help. It may be that the volume control is actually like those on multimedia keyboards, in which case it won't do anything, period, unless X is configured for it. The other thing that's bugging me is this:

I believe if /etc/modules.d/alsa contains info about the card, then /etc/modules.conf shouldn't.

Yeah, it should. That's what update-modules does: reads the files in /etc/modules.d/ then integrates them into modules.conf. The reason it doesn't is probably because module-init-tools wasn't built with the
old-linux USE flag. Try this:

Code:

update-modules -v

If it says something about "prerequisites not satisfied", then modules.conf isn't being updated and alsasound will just keep complaining that custom settings weren't found. Or just do "emerge -pv module-init-tools". Either way, add the USE flag and rebuild module-init-tools if it wasn't set. If that flag is enabled then try doing:

Code:

update-modules -v -f

Quote:

I commented out the 3 options in /etc/conf.d/alsasound

Code:

#ENABLE_OSS_EMUL="yes"
#RESTORE_ON_START="yes"
#SAVE_ON_STOP="yes"

Why? Uncomment them and just let /etc/init.d/alsasound handle the save and restore stuff._________________Thomas S. Howard

Hoping the latest version of the alsa packages might solve my problem, I tried the latest stuff but I get Oops's, so I need to prepare a bug for alsa group, or figure out if this is local to my installation.
Steps taken so far:
Unmask alsa stuff

and actually, the alsa-driver package is probably going to go away in the near future. There was an announcement in the forums, but I can't find the stupid thing for some reason._________________Thomas S. Howard

Either way, add the USE flag and rebuild module-init-tools if it wasn't set.

I looked up old-linux USE flag, from http://www.gentoo.org/dyn/use-index.xml.
The description says, "Add support for linux-2.4 and older".
I'm not running anything older than 2.6, so I assume my system is correct, and no sound configuration is needed in /etc/modules.conf. I think the new way of handling things is by putting configs in /etc/modules.d/<thing>

In X you can use the xev utility to find out what the keycodes generated by the volume keys are, and depending on the DE used (i.e, gnome,kde, etc.) configure them with a utility. Often it's a default part of the install. Xmodmap can be used as well._________________Thomas S. Howard

In X you can use the xev utility to find out what the keycodes generated by the volume keys are, and depending on the DE used (i.e, gnome,kde, etc.) configure them with a utility. Often it's a default part of the install. Xmodmap can be used as well.

With the T61, alsamixer displays the channels a little differently than I've seen before. PCM controls volume as usual, but it can't be specifically muted or unmuted. If you want to turn on the laptop speakers, unmute 'Speakers' (far right channel), and to turn on the headphone jack, unmute 'Headphone' (far left channel). I also found that the silver mute button mutes sound, but to turn sound back on you need to press the Volume Up button. Volume Down doesn't seem to do anything.

We have a winner! That is great! Sound works with your solution on the t61! Yay!
Hopefully the standard alsa packages adopt what is right about your method so the install gets easier.
Thank You Very Much!

You will need at least version 1.0.15rc2 of the alsa drivers to get sound working properly. These are not yet included with any Linux distribution so you will need to compile and install them yourself.

As of kernel version 2.6.24-r1, alsa can be compiled built-in to the kernel without any issues. For the volume buttons, I decided to use xbindkeys and amixer to manipulate the channel levels and mute status. If you want to do it this way, emerge xbindkeys and add the following to your .xbindkeys file:

Note that if you do it this way, the mute button will not unmute the headphone and speaker channels. Instead, use the volume-up button to do so. Also, xbindkeys needs to be started every time you boot your computer, so you need to find a way to do that (I'm still looking for the best way to do that; if anyone has any suggestions, they'd be greatly appreciated). Also, if you go looking for kernel 2.6.24-r1, it's still masked under ~x86 in the portage tree.